During the past month, the Maine State Chamber of Commerce has led an effort of more than 50 organizations asking the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to delay the implementation of a law passed in July 2021. The law would require companies to report products that have had perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) intentionally added starting January 1, 2023. The group has sent a letter to Maine DEP and Governor Janet Mills asking them to extend the reporting deadline scheduled to go into effect on January 1, 2023, for the reporting of a manufacturer of products for sale in the State of Maine containing intentionally added PFAS. The intent of the legislation that passed was to phase out and eventually ban PFAS in certain products for sale in the State of Maine by 2030. The impact of the reporting deadline contained within that bill will impact millions of products and thousands of companies that are based in Maine, do business in Maine, or sell products into the Maine marketplace.

This session’s controversial water tax bill, LD 1569, An Act Regarding an Excise Tax on Water Extracted for Commercial Bottling, became Resolve chapter 185 without Governor Janet Mills’ signature. Sponsored by Rep. Lori Gramlich (D-Old Orchard), the bill was gutted and finally passed as a resolve to study the role of water as a resource in Maine.  

The perennial tax haven legislation, LD 428, An Act to Prevent Tax Haven Abuse, sponsored by Rep. Denise Teppler (D-Topsham), passed as a Resolve, c. 170 without the Governor’s signature. The law directs Maine Revenue Services (MRS) to look at the impact on the State’s income tax and economy if Maine adopted worldwide combined reporting for corporations that are part of an affiliated group with members outside of the United States.

In the Legislature, there’s always a first. That proved to be true for LD 1337, An Act to Increase Affordable Housing and Reduce Property Taxes Through an Impact Fee on Vacant Residences, otherwise known as the “Camp Tax” bill.

In the area of taxation policy, the 130th Maine Legislature will be known for many things, and perhaps submitting a record number of anti-business bills will be one of them. There were bills targeting Maine’s water industry and proposals to increase income tax rates, to tax more of Mainers’ estates, to impose local option taxes, and to tax Mainers’ camps, to name a few. While the past two years of the 130th Legislature have not been easy, the business community once again emerged from this session almost unscathed in taxation. LD 1129, the so-called “dark stores” bill, was the only anti-business bill to be passed along mostly party lines, with Democrats supporting and Republicans opposing but without the Governor’s signature. The bill will prohibit assessors from considering deed restrictions, encumbrances, zoning restrictions, and other issues when valuing property with no such restrictions. The business community will no doubt challenge this issue next time around and submit a bill to reverse it.

In early May, Governor Janet Mills allowed LD 1969, An Act Concerning Equity in Renewable Energy Projects and Workforce Development, sponsored by Rep. Scott Cuddy (D-Winterport), to become law without her signature. The Maine State Chamber of Commerce joined a coalition of other business advocacy groups in both strongly opposing the bill during the legislative process, as well as urging Governor Mills to veto LD 1969. Despite these efforts, the bill still became law.